Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin 'shielded' biotech firms in gain-of-function research audit, GOP senator claims

outside the US “may have shielded” collaborations with Chinese biotech firms — including at least one linked to Beijing’s military, a Republican senator alleged Tuesday.

Former House China Select Committee chairman Mike Gallagher introduced the BIOSECURE Act in January to blacklist each company from doing business in the US. The following month, Gallagher, China Select Committee ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi and Sens. Gary Peters and Bill Hagerty Marshall accused Austin’s Defense Department of being either unable or unwilling to be transparent about the collaborations with the Chinese biotech companies, which “have been flagged by Congress as problematic.”The lawmakers said the firm was “closely affiliated” with China’s People’s Liberation Army — and may have stolen US intellectual property.

Between 2019 and 2020, the US Army Medical Research and Development Command gave $6.5 million to WuXi AppTec “to test antivirals in cells and in animals” infected with the SARS-CoV-2, Dengue, Ebola, and Chikungunya viruses., more than $15.5 million in grants between 2014 and 2023 flowed through subrecipients to “contracting research organization in China or other foreign countries for research related to potential enhancement of pathogens of pandemic potential.

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